


Summer's almost over

by ferggirl



Category: Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-10-06
Packaged: 2018-02-20 02:58:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2412464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ferggirl/pseuds/ferggirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The summer camp olympics are here, and counselor Will Scarlet has gone to great lengths to make sure his team wins. Alice just can't figure out why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer's almost over

"Now the first thing we want to explain to everyone," Alice says with a smile, "is that this is supposed to be fun."

"Yes, exactly," Cyrus nods, standing on the little camp stage with his fellow counselors. "We’re all winners, no matter what happens."

"Oh, that’s just b-" " _WILL._ " "-ollocks. Honestly, Alice, what did you think I was going to say?"

The assembled children, quietly attentive up to this point giggle nervously.

Alice flushes and glares at Will, who’s totally unrepentant. “As we were saying, we want everyone to have fun and play hard and do your best.”

"And remember that your counselor has a lot riding on who wins," Will says with a wink and grin before either Alice or Cyrus can stop him. "So do me a solid, team orange, and let’s crush ‘em."

His contingent, clad in matching orange neckerchiefs, cheer raucously and follow him off to their gathering point. 

Alice feels a laugh threatening, but schools her face to be impassive and slightly disapproving. “I told you this bet was a bad idea,” she murmurs to Cyrus, who’s watching Will walk away with an arrested look on his face. 

"I thought it was all a bit of fun," he says with a shrug. "Didn’t realize he’d want to win quite so badly."

"You two are absurd," she hisses, turning back to her campers with a wide smile. "All right, team blue. We’ve worked all summer on these games, and I know you’re ready. We’re not going to let some big talk from team orange rattle us, are we?"

"No!" they shout. She can see Cyrus move to speak to his red team as she leads them away. 

The bet is standard - winning counselor chooses final night activity, loser washes the final night dishes. Second place is a safe zone, with no reward or penalty. She knows why he doesn’t want to lose. But why  _does_ Will want to win?

******

It’s a full day of games. Some are team-based, some are individual. There are arts and crafts and athletic contests and even drama. Despite her worries of over-competitiveness, Will is just as wonderful with the kids as usual, giving praise when it’s warranted and often when it’s not. Where Cyrus is gentle and caring, Will makes disappointed finishers laugh with silly remarks.

The cooking staff are the impartial judges for anything that doesn’t involve a score. But she notices a few winks between the orange counselor and the head cook. 

Will’s firmly in the lead going into lunch, with Alice and Cyrus basically tied for second.

"Maybe it’ll be the two of us, washing dishes under the stars," Cyrus winks at her. They’ve been carefully flirting all summer. She knows she’s supposed to wink back, to giggle and be hopeful that they somehow tie for last. But, dammit, she wants to win. 

Besides, Will is watching the exchange closely. 

"I think my kids have a few tricks up their sleeves," she says archly. "We haven’t even gotten to water sports yet."

Cyrus looks taken aback, but Will catches her eye and grins. 

******

When they settle in for the evening skits that finish off the day, the race is much closer. 

Alice’s campers caught up with extremely good performances in the canoes and kayaks. (Will’s never loved water, so he didn’t put in the extra time on those that she did.)

Cyrus’s team won the soccer tournament, beating both other teams. And Will stayed in the lead by squeezing out a close victory in volleyball. 

The skits are secrets, prepared in their cabins and carefully hidden from campers in other groups. 

Cyrus’s team goes first. His kids do a touching rendition of “Imagine” with sweet acting for each example. It’s a hit with the judges, but the other kids seem a bit underwhelmed. Alice leads the clapping, and Cyrus hugs his campers with tears in his eyes. 

Alice’s campers are next. She is a prop in their scene, which is the village song from Beauty and the Beast. They twirl her from kid to kid, singing and giggling as she acts the part of Belle walking through town. When her little soloist pipes up with Belle’s part in the bookshop, the rowdy crowd goes quiet to listen. The applause is hearty, and she’s absurdly proud of them all.

Will is waiting with a hand to help her climb offstage in her costume. He gives her a spin when her feet touch ground, and she laughs, a little breathless. 

"That was lovely," he says with a wink. "I’ll be sorry to beat it."

"I look forward to seeing you try." She’s still laughing, and she can feel Cyrus watching her and she wonders when Will started making her smile so often and why she’s sorry when he lets go of her hand. 

Then he’s up on stage, getting his kids in place and ducking out as the first chords of “Good Morning Baltimore” from Hairspray play. Alice can feel the blood drain from her face as she sinks into her chair. 

She’s only seen the musical once but it was  _not_  all-ages appropriate. What is he  _doing?_

His kids dive into the song, acting out a day at Camp Wonderland with silly miming and a few very funny impressions of Alice and Cyrus. 

> _Oh oh oh, woke up today_
> 
> _feeling the way I always do_
> 
> _oh oh oh hungry for something I need to win_
> 
> _so I start to spin_
> 
> _to the volleyball court where we’ll finish the sport_
> 
> _it’s like a message from high above_

And just like that, he’s on the roof, with a sign that says “MESSAGE” in big black letters. 

> _oh oh oh we’re gonna make the best counselor ever so prooooooud!_
> 
> _Hello Camp Wonderland!_
> 
> _Every day’s been so very grand._
> 
> _Every night, we snuck to the pool_
> 
> _Every summer should be this cool_

Alice glares up at Will, who’s sliding down to join the kids as they wrap up. He winks at her, and then ducks into the back. 

> _Hello Camp Wonderland!_
> 
> _And some day when it’s my turn to bet,_
> 
> _I hope I’ll be as fun as he!_
> 
> _Will Scarlet and me!_

They’ve built a rolling platform, and wrapped Will in an absurd toga which he wears with extreme seriousness as they roll him to the front. 

The music jams out and the kids just have a dance party on stage and the other campers are laughing and cheering. 

Cyrus leans over. “A bit self-congratulatory, wouldn’t you say? Hardly the example we want to set for young minds.”

Alice opens her mouth, and then closes it again. But the laughter will not stay in. She joins in the clapping as the kids clamber down from the stage and turns to Cyrus. “I don’t know, learning to laugh at themselves is a pretty important example.”

He’s silent, but she can feel his wounded look without turning to see it. 

******

The performances over, the campers hungrily attack their evening meal. It’s a feast prepared in advance, in anticipation of the long day of activity. There will be a lot of dishes. Alice finds herself hoping very fervently to be at least second.

Will wears his toga to dinner. He’s got swim trunks under it, but Alice keeps catching herself staring as it drapes and droops around his bare chest. 

He’s full of congratulations for all the campers, and even Cyrus thaws after a few minutes of friendly chatter. 

When the winners are announced, there’s another wink from the head cook and Alice would be more concerned except that her campers tie for first with Will’s. The blue team erupts in cheering, and the orange team looks slightly unhappy until Will grins over at them and shoots a thumbs up. 

Alice glances at the dejected faces of the red team and stands up to make an impromptu speech.

"What a good day that was! Congratulations to each and every one of you. It’s been a great summer and the best competition we’ve ever had."

Will catches her drift and joins in. “Red team, I don’t think I’ll ever recover from the incredible soccer victory. And how about those flower wreaths! I really wanted one of those, but my campers made me one out of poison ivy instead.”

Alice kicks Cyrus under the table and he stands up to address the campers. 

"Remember, campers, we each have a Wonderland inside of us. We are all unique and special. So let’s celebrate tonight as winners, every one of us."

When he sits down, Will pats him on the back. “Honor in losing, a noble trait, good sir. But you still have to do the dishes. Milady,” he offers Alice his arm, “I believe we have an evening activity to plan.”

She knows what she is supposed to do. She should feel badly, should volunteer to help, to stay, to spend the last night chastely flirting with sensitive, perfect Cyrus.

But she takes Will’s arm instead. “Indeed we do, good sir.”

The kids laugh and whoop as they stroll to the counselor’s cabin. 

"So how rigged was this?" she asks finally, dropping his arm once they’re through the door. He’s on his knees, digging in his suitcase for the stack of DVDs he brought with him. 

"Rigged? You wound me."

"I saw you and Marge exchanging significant looks."

He actually blushes at that. But then he finds the movies he’s been searching for and produces them with a triumphant flourish. 

"As my co-winner, it’s your PG movie choice: Back to the Future, or The Princess Bride?"

She raises an eyebrow. “So you’re suggesting a movie night? No secret pool escapades?”

"Oh those come later."

"Why don’t we let the kids decide? All of them," she says decisively. "It will help poor Cyrus’s campers."

He shoots her a look she can’t quite interpret, and they head back out to take a vote. 

******

_"Wait, wait, wait. Is this a kissing book?"_

The sky is clear and the summer night is cool. Alice has a seat in the back, where she and Will can keep an eye on their tired campers and watch for any misbehavior during the movie. 

But she keeps getting distracted. Will’s  _still_  in that damn toga. And every time she catches him mouthing the lines that she knows by heart, it does a funny thing to her stomach. Not to mention she’s caught herself accidentally staring at his mouth at least three times. 

He turns before she can look away this time, and smiles. Alice rolls her eyes and turns determinedly back to the movie, trying to ignore the pleasant shiver that runs through her as she feels his eyes on her.

"Cold?" he asks. "I have plenty of extra material here to share, you know."

Before she can protest, he’s unwrapped the sheet and unfurled it like a blanket. The warmth of it settles over her shoulders and she grabs the loose edge to hold around her. If his arm stays loosely around her shoulders, she doesn’t feel the need to remind him to move it.

The movie ends with a flourish and they stand up, Will crumpling the sheet in one hand as they lead the sleepy campers to the cabins. Alice feels the chill in the air more distinctly after the little cocoon of warmth. 

She’s just finished lights out on the final cabin when she hears him call her name. 

"I did say there’d be swimming, right?"

"I’m not in my suit," she hisses. "And Cyrus is sulking in the cabin."

"So we’ll improvise," he says.

She considers for a few seconds, and his hopeful face falls a bit.

"It was just a thought, of course you don’t have to. It’s been a long-"

She kisses him to shut him up. A quick peck, innocent enough. But it does the job.

"The pool? I don’t want to get fired."

"This is a firing-free evening, you have my word. Well, Marge’s word."

"Just what was the deal with Marge?"

"If I tell you, you can’t get mad.”

“Of course I can.”

He grimaces and tugs her along toward the pool. “I made her promise to make us tie.”

“WHAT?”

“Only if I was beating you!”

“What.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t by much.”

Her sense of fair play is outraged, but she can’t help feeling slightly flattered that he’s gone to all of this trouble. “Just so I could choose the movie?”

“I just wanted… it’s been hard to sneak a word in around Cyrus this summer.”

“You’ve done all right,” she says with a shake of her head. They reach the pool gate and climb over.

“Well I bloody well wanted to do better than all right,” he mutters. His handsome face is a study in frustration. “But listen, this wasn’t meant to be a trick. You don’t have to do anything, obviously. Although I would like to mention now that you did kiss me a few minutes ago, and I would very much like to repeat that effort with a little bit more warning.”

She laughs, he’s always making her laugh. And then she shucks off her t-shirt and shorts and dives into the pool.

“Coming?”

His cannonball is a decisive answer. There isn’t much talking for a while after that.

They wind up on the stage roof, drying under the night wind as they look up at the stars.

“Parents come in the morning,” she says sleepily, her head on his shoulder. He’s complained about her wet hair twice now, but won’t hear of her moving.

“Summer’s over, and we go back to college,” he agrees. “Maybe I’ll see you around?”

“Maybe you will.”


End file.
